Kindred of the Dust

le, that his son's first day in command had had a sobering effect upon that young man. He had gone forth that morning whistling, his eyes alert with interest and antic

for the term of his natural life. Gladly, eagerly, it seemed to Hector McKaye, his son was assuming his h

o have harbored no resentment had this been so. It had been his one anxiety that Donald might take his place in the business as a matter of duty to himself rather than as a duty to his father, and because he had found his lifework and was approaching it wi

old man noted not less than thrice a slight pause with the spoon half-way to his mouth, as if his son considered some problem more important than soup. Mrs. McKaye and the girls chattered on, oblivious of these slight evidences of mental perturbation, but as The Laird carved the roast (he delighte

und you, Donald; I used to eat these fat, juicy little lamb's tails while you were at college, but I suppose, now, I'll have to surrende

rrow jumped old Caleb Brent's Sawdust Pile, and Daney was weak enough to let them get away with it. I'm somewhat surprised. Daney knew your wishes in the matter; if he

bottom of his son's perturba

he replied. "If he didn't lack initiative, he would have been

besides, he's been in the Tyee Lumber Company longer

Sawdust Pile this morning, Donald. I dar

Pile is as clean a

d up from

ay, too," she announced, with the calm attitu

glared

y unkind and uncharitable of you, Jane, to hope I

aved his ca

son. Jane, my dear, if I were you, I wouldn't pr

rs. McKaye felt impelled to fly to the defense of her daughter. "You know as well as

Nellie," The Laird answered whimsically. "There are a few in that

respectable, father

ld! Hector, you amaze

be anything else," Donald add

ents. The world has been at that line of conversation for two thousand years,

ged tears should she be opposed further. The Laird, all too familiar with this truly feminine type of tyranny, indicated to his son, by a

ghtly. "I'm going up in the woods and be a lumberjack for a month. Going to

with a slight elevation of her eyebrows. "I un

learned it thor

izzie,'" she warn

ell, El

, you should finish your work before you go. If they were not fit to inhabit the Sawdust P

you'd forget Nan Brent. She's an old and very dear friend

d this humorous, and indulge

fact that she possessed a certain knack for adapting slang humorously (for there was no originality to he

other cried reproachfully

e mother of a child born out of wedlock. She stays at home

old dear; if Nan Brent isn't a bad woman, just what is your idea of what cons

d she loved him-or thought she did, which amounts to the same thing until one discovers the difference between thinking

te with some-er-good people,"

aw off the limb. It is true that she is the mother of an illegitimate child, but if that child was not-at least in so

rue?" Jane demanded. She had a feeling that she was a

ow it to be

oi

ve it to be

hy

it. And I knew Nan Brent when she was a young girl, and she was sweet and lovely and virtuous. I talked with her

her, keep an eye on your little son. He'll be going in

to her son, for her woman's intuition warned her that, if the discussion waxed warmer, The Laird would take a hand in it, and her side would go down to inglorious defeat, their arguments flattened by the weight of Scriptura

provoked, "you were demanding the right of free speech for Jane, in order

h importance that we should differ to the point of becoming acrimo

ck in laconically. "Dad, will you ple

uss are now being agitated in women's clubs, books, newspapers, and the public schools. You can't smother sin or the facts of life unles

nse, Hector?" Mrs. McKay

except that which is founded on hearsay evidence, I can condone her offense because I can understand it. She might have developed into a far worse girl than it appears from Donald's account she is. At

her hand, father McKaye, her so-called courage may have been ignorance or

heir sex; and I happen to know that it is a matter of terrible importance to Nan Brent that in Port Agnew people regard her as unclean and look at her askance. And because that vacillating old Daney didn't have the

Hector McKaye interrupted him dryly. "Have you no power o'deduct

laughed. "Yes; I suppose

ontinued, turning to his wife. "I know her well. Beware of expressing an opini

mainder of the meal was portentous, however, and Mrs. McKaye and her daughters were relieved when, t

Donald burst forth sudde

es, la

nder

osophical mood. He weig

t one over on Him." He smoked in silence for a minute, his calm glance on the ceiling. "Now that you are what you are, my son," he resumed reflectively, "you'll begin to know men and women. They who never bothered to seek your favor before will fight for it now-they do the same thing with God Almighty, seeking to win his favor by outdoing him in the

an organization in Seattle designed to salvage female delinq

ctor h

n't do that, where would be the fun of being rich? Look in the Seattle papers. Who gets the advertising out of a charity ball if it isn't the rich? They organize it and they put it over, with the public paying for a look at them, and they atten

laughed

If your fellow plutocrats should hear you ran

he world, although, when all's said and done; 'tis the poor that are kind to the poor, the unfortunate that

nt which a gentleman always accords

est gentlemen. Donald, I used to pray to God that I wouldn't raise a fool. I feel that h